Allen Durham issues call for help after Newsome, Dillinger fail to fire against TNT

Allen Durham failed to get enough local support from Meralco. Jaime Campos

ALLEN Durham asked for a pair of Meralco locals to get their groove back quick for them to stand a chance against TNT Katropa in their PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series.

The do-it-all Bolts import lived up to his reputation, but found little support from some locals as they surrendered Game One to the Texters, 113-95, on Tuesday night.

“Couple of our main guys, they need to step it up in Game Two,” said Durham, who put up 26 points, 21 boards, seven assists in almost 43 minutes. “But it’s a series … so I’m pretty sure they’ll bounce back.”

Durham didn’t mention their names, but it’s not hard to tell that he’s referring to Chris Newsome and Jared Dillinger.

Newsome, the rookie guard who leads the Bolts locals in scoring, was held to just three points after missing five of his six shots. He added three boards, three assists, and one steal in 17 minutes as a starter.

Dillinger, for his part, scored 12 points, but 10 of his output came in the fourth quarter when the game was all but decided. He missed 10 of his 15 shots.

While the Bolts were off target, the Texters hit their marks as they made half of their 30 three-point attempts and shot 48 percent from the field overall.

“They’re all shooters, so we got to make adjustments because if they keep shooting like that, it’s going to be a short series,” Durham admitted.